


Come Home

by CannibalisticCutie



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Everyone Is Alive, Fluff and Angst, Hallucinations, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Instability, Mild Gore, Recovery, Self-Harm, depressing but josh gets the support he needs, optional smut chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 13:35:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4789160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CannibalisticCutie/pseuds/CannibalisticCutie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Recovery is a long road, but at least Josh still has a few friends to help carry him through it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Numb to the Noise

**Author's Note:**

> rating might change for smut, flashback gore, but probably both. Climbing class-centric but sam/josh is a platonic side. Just a short starter chapter for nowww

The shrieks are louder, always getting fucking louder. Sometimes they'll quiet down, only to be replaced with the violent voices of his sisters.  
He doesn't know how long he's been down here. It feels like it could have been days, a month, but he hasn't been counting. He's been too busy ignoring his hunger and finding the sharpest object he can drag against his arm.  
His eyes widen when he hears rocks fall far off behind him, though he's not too surprised. Josh always knew one of them would see him eventually, he just expected it to happen a lot sooner. He's too gone for clever last words, rather just staring blankly at the ground and the blood - his blood - on the sharp rocks lined in front of him. He's ready. He's been ready since last year, when he was too drunk to fucking do anything. Since he saw how much he hurt everyone around him this year.

"Oh god, we've got a survivor over here! Get the medic team, quick!"

He's too numb to respond.

He doesn't say anything on the way to the hospital. All he does is stare blankly and cry, before passing out in his hospital bed.

 

"Josh?" his eyes snap open at the sound of his name, and at the voice of the speaker. He immediately begins to tear up. He doesn't deserve to been in the same room as any of his friends. He almost laughs at his use of the word friends. They're just people who used to put up with him, he knows.  
"Nono, don't cry," the boy moves to put his hand on Josh's head, though pulls back a bit when he flinches hard. Slowly, he moves his hand forward and runs his hand through Josh's hair gently "Hey, you must be hungry, yeah?" Josh jerk his head over to look at him, interested as the hunger still aches in his gut. He notices the boy is holding a bowl of soup and swallows dryly.  
"Thank you, C-Chris . ." He chokes out. Chris simply smiles and nods, steadily holding spoonful of soup to Josh, who gratefully accepts the warm liquid.  
Behind Chris, he can see Matt and Sam sitting down and smiling up at him. God, he doesn't deserve those sweet looks of sympathy. Looking back into Sam's eyes, something snaps inside of him, and he begins sobbing into his rough and bandaged hands.  
Panicked yet sturdy, Chris sets down the bowl and reaches out to gently pull Josh's hand away from his face, instead holding it in his own. Sam and Matt follow in the notion, with Matt moving over to hold Josh's other hand, while Sam stands to hold both Josh and Chris' hands in her own. 

All Josh can do is squeeze their hands tightly as he heads into a state of hysteria


	2. Cover Your Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chris allows Josh to stay in his apartment until he can be trusted to take his pills by himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit I didn't think such a short and stupid thing could get this much attention? ? thank you! if u have a thought or headcanon you'd like to see in the story, please comment as I'd like to incorporate your ideas as well! the chapters are probs gonna be short cus im impatient but I'll update pretty quick, sound fair?

Josh's time in the hospital isn't too long, just some good binge eating and disinfectant to his scars. That being said, he would be able to go home soon . . . supposing his parents cared so much as to have him back. He hadn't even seen them upon his return, receiving only some get well flowers from his busy father and a drunken and messy phone call from his mother. Josh still admired that she called, despite the slurs in her speech.  
Still, the doctors had informed him that he needed supervisors to keep him company and to make sure he took his meds. After last time, of course they wouldn't trust him on his own. And hell, he knew his parents would be too busy or to drunk to support him. He couldn't be left alone like that.  
"Your friend called, Mr. Washington." the nurse informs him, standing patiently by his side. He waits quietly for him to continue. "Your friend Chris says that if you have no other place to go, you can lodge with him in his apartment."  
Josh nods awkwardly, agreeing with the idea. If anyone was going to be there for him, it would be Chris.  
"I'll call him to tell him you like the idea. We can go pick up your things before moving you over to his place, alrighty?"

 

It's a lot bigger than Josh had expected, considering it was an apartment owned by his middle class nerd friend. He goes starry eyed as he looks around at the warm and cozy home before him.  
"Make yourself at home, buddy." Chris giggles as he sets Josh's luggage down by the door. Josh can't think of anything witty or even kind to say in response, instead just trying to figure out how his friends could still be so charitable to him. "C'mon, I'll show you to your room." Chris says, kicking off his shoes. Josh does the same before moving to follow him. He's lead to a room just down the hall from Chris' bedroom, where Chris throws the door open. "It's nothing special, but uh . . ." Chris giggles nervously, but quiets down when Josh hugs him from the side to show his gratitude, burying his face into his jacket. Chris gently wraps his arm around Josh in return. ". . . Wanna go watch a movie? Your pick."

\----

Josh throws his shirt up over his head, before slipping on a dark pair of boxers. Looking into the mirror, he reaches up to scratch at his bandaged arms and the smooth abrasions on his thighs. He cringes and grunts when he scratches at one of his scars too hard, watching curiously as the fresh blood phases into the bandage. "Shit." He mutters, before moving over to the bed and tiredly tucking himself in.  
A few minutes pass as he sits alone with his thoughts, before there comes a knock at the door. "Mhm?"  
Chris nudges the door open with hip, a glass of water in one hand and pills in the other. "Sup kiddo?" Chris greets, eliciting a small laugh from Josh. 

He hands the glass of water to Josh and looks down to the assortment of pills before handing him an iron supplement first, then a painkiller, leaving just the antidepressant capsule. Chris sighs lightly, knowing Josh would be reluctant to take it. Handing it to him, he places his hand on Josh's jaw and waits as he takes a sip of water. "Swallow." reluctantly, Josh follows the command. "Open." Rolling his eyes, Josh opens his mouth to clarify that the pill was gone.  
"Y'know, this isn't exactly how I pictured you with your hand on my mouth commanding me to swallow."  
"There's the humorous and oddly homo-erotic Josh I remember." Chris replies with a smirk, ruffling Josh's hair. "Gnight, and call me if you need anything, k?" Josh nods, sinking back into his pillow as Chris exits the room, gently closing the door behind him.  
It was going to be a long night.

 

"So you're abandoning us now, huh Josh?" Beth snarls, Hannah glaring down at him from the opposite side of the bed. "Forgetting about your dear dead sisters for some pricks who treat you like the baby you are? Hmm?"

"You're . . . You're not them."

"Yeah? Well if that's true, then you're not Josh."  
"Joshua rotted away in the mines like he deserved. You're just a shell of a man."

"I'm sorry."  
"What was that? Couldn't hear you over your pathetic crocodile tears."  
"I'm . . . I'm sorry!"  
"FUCKING LOUDER!"

"I'm sorry!" Josh shouts, springing up in his bed be does his best to calm his breathing, realizing it was just a dream. Once he's calmed down, he shuffles out into the living room, turning on the TV to watch cartoons while Chris makes breakfast for the both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for typos again idk


	3. Strangelove

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josh hallucinates again one day, and "Beth" implants a reminder of a bad habit into his mind. Chris realizes and does his best at tired comforting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one's pretty bad??? light gore and violence and whatnot. also idk why I write so much self harm I just??? feel like he needs some real comfort before he drops the habit u know
> 
> also some gay shit. next chapter is optional smut so idk u can skip that if u want but???? I didn't wanna force it onto u if u don't wanna

Josh had by now made himself rather comfortable in Chris’ home, taking his leisure and becoming familiar with where everything was around the house.  
Today was a lazy Sunday, Josh simply channel surfing while he waited for Chris to come back from grocery shopping. He left bad for not joining him, but honestly he just didn’t have the energy to go out and do things. Being outside and doing tedious things as people watched him judging just make him sick.

He watches the TV screen with half-lidded eyes as he scrolls through his options. Recently he had taken to watching animated shows and movies They seemed to work the best for removing him from reality, and definately made him feel better than Law & Order, or whatever other gruesome crime shows that seemed to be so popular these days. He had a hard time scrolling through program descriptions without finding the words ‘murder’ or ‘assault’, and frankly, those plots did him no good. Most of it stops being interesting once you’ve lived some form of it.

Despite this, he pauses on the news channel displaying updated information on the Blackwood case … on him …  
He listens, unsure of whether to find out if their experiences had managed to out the horrors of the mines& or if it was all shit he had heard before.

“Beth Washington has been located, although the search team has thus far only managed to find parts of her corpse. We are still unsure of the whereabouts of Hannah Washington, however. After the events of this year, foul play is heavily suspected.”  
Soon the words of the reporters turn into mindless buzzing, as Joshua stares blankly at the screen. Feeling watched, he looks around. It seems Hannah and Beth have joined him, staring at him from either side with grey, rotting eyes placed in their perfectly composed bodies.

“You know why they can’t find me.” Hannah mumbles, as Beth begins feverishly scratching at her own neck. Josh turns to watch as blood begins spurting from Beth’s neck onto the couch; occasionally a gelatinous form of cuagulated blood slipping past a new gash.  
As Josh watches in horrified shock, Hannah moves in front of him, standing with a blank stare. He chokes out a gasp as she tightly wraps her hands around his throat, squeezing until his head is pounding so hard it feels like it’s going to explode. Looking to his left, he watches as Beth’s head falls right off her neck, with a sickening “snap-pop!” noise. He attempts to scream out, instead only managing a squeak past the hold of Hannah’s grip.

To anyone else, they would have seen a madman choking himself and staring wide-eyed at absolutely nothing.

Josh instantly begins gasping and coughing as Hannah releases her grip on his throat. As he regains hid breath, he looks up to instead see Beth, holding her head in her arms like one might a volleyball. Carefully, she reaches out to take his hand, leading him over to the small kitchen aisle.  
“You know you want to.” She teases, gesturing to the collection of smooth kitchen knives.  
“Chris … Chris says hurting myself isn’t good.” Beth giggles at this as if he had said something positively idiotic, soon beginning to laugh so hard she drops her own head onto the floor, spattering rotten blood all over the kitchen tiles.  
Josh debates whether or not he could get away with one small cut session. 

By the time Chris comes home, Josh has cleaned up, and it’s roughly dinner time. “Hey cochise.” Josh calls over as Chris sets the grocery bags onto the counter. He pauses to savour the petname before replying.  
“How are you? Been good while I was out?” Chris asks, jokingly raising an eyebrow.  
“Yessir.” Josh responds with a huff.

 

Dinner is fast and awkward, Josh feeling guilty and worried about Chris noting the missing blade. But jesus, it’s an addiction. He knows he shouldn’t but … just this last time. Just one more.  
The nightly routine is the same, each of them getting ready before Chris watches Josh takes his meds, and the two saying goodnight. Josh waits a few minutes as Chris heads to bed before quietly slipping the medium-sized smooth blade from between the mattress and the comforter. 

It’s around maybe 1 AM when a Chris is awoken by the sound of something clanging against the hardwood floor. Groggy, he does his best to wake up before reaching over to slip on his glasses and get out of bed. He shuffles out into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water, as well as to locate the noise. It was likely a pot or ladle that had been hung incorrectly … until he comes to notice the empty slot in the knife block. There’s at least three ideas running through Chris’ head, none of them good. What if? What if?

Trying his best to be quiet, he turns off the kitchen light and shuffles back down the hallway, this time moving towards Josh’s room, just to check. He nudges the door open slowly, before looking around the room as his eyes adjusted to the darkness rather quickly. Soon he focused on Josh, who lay lazily on his side snoring loudly with one arm hanging off the side of the bed. Chris is about to dismiss the situation before he notices the shimmer of a wet blade on the floor below Josh’s hand. Fuck. Chris feels a pang of guilt as he moves forward to pick up the blade, pausing to look at Josh’s calm, sleeping face. From that, he assumed he didn’t cut hard enough to send himself into distress. Sighing, he slides the knife under the bed and stand back up, moving around to the other side of the bed and slipping under the covers. 

“H-hhm? What’s-” Josh mumbles groggily, turning to face Josh before flinching as the mattress makes contact with the new cuts on his thighs. Instinctively, Chris reaches over to where he remembers Josh had a roll of gauze and scissors on the bed side table for new bandaging, before awkwardly but carefully moving between Josh’s legs, wrapping the bandage around his upper thighs before cutting it when it was secure.  
“… Please leave the knives alone.” Chris whispers, lowering himself down a bit so he lay between Josh’s legs. He simply stares in awe as Chris presses a small kiss to one of his bandaged wrists. Shakily moving to tap Chris’ cheek to get him to look up at him, Josh hesitates.

“I promise.”  
“Really bro?  
“Really, bro.” The two giggle like fucking idiots before Chris confidently moves forward to press his lips to Josh’s.

It was going to be another long night, though perhaps this time for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the smut chapter will be up like??? idk in a few hours or tomorrow I guess. like I have it but ew lmao


	4. that's pretty homo, dude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Optional short fluff smut chapter? yeah lmao

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was tired so don't judge my grossness??? but it's not sexy it's basically rlly short fluff porn. u can skip this chapter if u want cus I mean
> 
> eh

Josh moves past the shock of the kiss fast, quickly melting into it before they both pull away for air. Chris looks up at him with the widest puppy dog eyes, Josh almost can’t believe it. Curiously, he gently moves his hips up against Chris’, moving subtly so as to make sure he was okay with it. He gets a strong yes when Chris, presumably on accident, grinds down hard against him, eliciting a soft gasp from both of them. 

“S-s-sorry, haha,” Chris giggles, blushing hard. Despite this, Josh looks down at him with all seriousness.  
“Could you … do that again?” Chris seems bewildered at the question, and chokes on words for a moment before deciding that perhaps it’s best to respond with his actions; steadily curling his hips in against his partner’s some more, rocking against each other. “Fffuck, please.” Josh breathily groans out as he moves his hips up in response, trying to get the most contact he can. 

Breathing heavy now, Chris moves his hand down between them to palm at Josh’s clothed member, drowning in the small noises the boy makes underneath him in response. Moving his hands to the band of Josh’s boxers, he pauses. “M-may I?” Seeing the desperation in his face as he nods yes, Chris immediately hooks his fingers into the waistband and pulls them down, watching as his length springs free from its confines. Josh hisses lightly at the feeling of the cold air against him, digging his nails into Chris’ upper back as he watches him writhe beneath him.  
Not wanting to get into anything he didn’t know how to do, Chris moves to remove his own nerdy as hell pyjama pants. Savoring the warmth, he moves up against Josh once more, this time much closer now what their clothing wasn’t in the way. Josh lifts his bandaged legs out of the way as Chris moves to wrap a slicked hand around both of their bases, causing both of them to elicit more small noises. Chris giggles. “Fuck, you’re cute.”

“You got that right, cochise.” Josh says, moving to place his hand over Chris’, slowly moving their hands of their members.  
“Glad to hear you’ve got a bit of an ego back.” Chris jokes through small grunts.  
“Yeah, glad to hear you actually /do/ have blood flowing down there.” Josh looks up at Chris with a dorky, open-mouthed smile, with quickly turns into a relaxed look of pleasure as Chris picks up the pace of his strokes, smirking as he does so. “Fuckfuckfuck,” Josh gasps.

As dorky virgins, it doesn’t take too long for them to hit climax, Chris cumming first, followed by Josh. Chris watches with admiring eyes as Josh makes all sorts of sweet faces, gasping and moaning before coming down. They huff and relax against each other, surprised at the turn of events, to say the least. 

“H-hey bro?” Josh prompts past light huffs.  
“Y- . . yeah?”   
“You got it going on, by the way.”  
“Oh my god Josh get your nerdy dick off of me.”


End file.
